Biography

During the mid-19th century, A. A. Coleman was a judge and well-respected planter in the black belt of west-central Alabama. Probably affiliated with the Whig Party when that party was still viable, Coleman associated himself with the Democratic Party in the late 1850s and sided with the forces of secession, serving for three years as colonel of the 40th Alabama Infantry Regiment before persistent illness forced his resignation. He saw little action due to his poor health.

W. S. Stuart, possibly a son-in-law to Coleman, was a physician, planter, and slave holder living in Monticello, Miss., southeast of Vicksburg. After the Civil War, both he and Coleman returned to farming, and Coleman may have engaged in a mercantile partnership.